Local councillor says concerns have been raised for years about "dangerous" stretch of road

The crashed car lying on its roof after coming off the Glenravel Road outside Cargan

Share

Get daily updates directly to your inbox

Thank you for subscribing!

Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email

A doctor and a nurse are being credited with saving a woman’s life after she crashed at an accident blackspot.

The woman, who is in her 20s, remains in a critical condition after her car was involved in a single vehicle accident on the Glenravel Road in Cargan, Co Antrim on Saturday evening.

Locals say a doctor and nurse travelling separately along the same road happened on the crash and treated the woman before paramedics arrived. The woman, who is from Cushendall, is in intensive care in the Royal Victoria Hospital after being transferred there from Antrim Area Hospital.

Today, one councillor in the area told Belfast Live the stretch of road where the crash happened has witnessed numerous accidents including one around a month ago. The smash on Saturday resulted in the woman’s car ending up on its roof in a field.

Sinn Fein representative Paul Maguire said he has being raising the issue with Roads Service for a number of years in the hope of getting better safety measures installed, but has been told budget constraints are delaying any work.

He added: “The road exiting Cargan village towards the Glens is treacherous and has a series of dangerous bends which many in the past have failed to negotiate and have consequently crashed through wire fencing and down a steep embankment, as has happened in this case.

The stretch of road coming out of Cargan close to where the accident happened

“When I was first elected in 2011 I was approached by a local landowner who couldn’t keep up with repairing fencing and replacing fence posts as a result of collisions. Many of these accidents occur at night and the vehicles and any evidence as to their ownership are removed leaving the landowner to foot the bill for the damage caused.”

Cllr Maguire says that last month a senior official from Transport NI (as Roads Service is now known) was at Mid & East Antrim Borough Council to update councillors on calls for a safety barrier. She was told a car had gone off the road resulting in seven emergency services vehicles attending the scene the previous week.

But cllr Maguire says the official’s response was the same as in 2011, in that the proposal meets the criteria “to progress to a more detailed assessment”, but that “given the length of the scheme proposal and the potentially high costs involved it is likely that delivery would have to be taken forward in stages”.

The official response added: “In the current very difficult economic climate where funding for minor works improvement schemes of this nature is very limited I am not in a position to give an indication as to when a proposal might be included in a future year’s delivery programme.”

The cllr added that he would normally request an urgent meeting through MLA Daithí McKay with the Roads Minister Danny Kennedy but he has resigned as part of the continuing crisis at Stormont.

Asked about the circumstances of the crash, Cllr Maguire said the details are unclear but that the woman’s car had ended up on its roof.

He added that a nurse and doctor came across the crash and were able to give the woman medical attention before paramedics arrived.

Sinn Fein MLA for East Antrim, Oliver McMullan, who is a neighbour of the crash victim, said her family are at her bedside.

He added: “I think the two women, the nurse and the doctor, who helped at the scene deserve special praise. They were able to offer medical assistance before the emergency services arrived and that must have made a significant difference to her condition.”

The injured woman was driving a white coloured Hyundai car when the accident happened on the Glenravel Road in Cargan at around 5pm. It is understood the crash happened on the road out of Cargan towards Glenariff.

Belfast Trust today confirmed the woman is in intensive care and remains in a “critical condition”. It is understood she was transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital after initial treatment at Antrim Area Hospital.

Inspector Nick Sturdy is appealing for anyone who was travelling on the Glenravel Road and who witnessed the collision to contact local police in Ballymena on the non-emergency number 101.